Say Yes Syracuse will hold the first ever Say Yes Day this Saturday in the Carrier Dome during the men’s basketball game against Villanova University.

Susan Dutch, the director of marketing and communications for Say Yes, said she hoped the event would raise money and awareness for the nonprofit organization.

‘We really hope it will get people to understand it and to motivate action,’ Dutch said.

Say Yes Syracuse is a local chapter of the national nonprofit Say Yes to Education, which relies on additional youth education programming from volunteers to help students get accepted and graduate from college.

The money raised from the event will help fund the new Nottingham quadrant that will be added to Say Yes in the fall. Nottingham is the fourth and final quadrant that was part of a ‘four-year roll-out plan,’ in which a quadrant, usually made up of six schools, is added each year, Dutch said.

With the addition of the Nottingham quadrant, Syracuse will be the first city to implement Say Yes district-wide and will be the largest Say Yes program in the country. 

The district has about 22,000 students from kindergarten through 12th grade, Dutch said.

Sunday’s event will promote the program through entertainment and by giving gifts to the people at the game.

Both past and current SU athletes, along with Say Yes founder George Weiss, will participate in a two-minute free-throw competition during halftime, during which PepsiCo Inc. will donate $44 to Say Yes to Education for every basket that is made. There will also be updates throughout the game on the amount of money raised, Dutch said.

Free Say Yes signs and orange Say Yes T-shirts will be left on every seat in the student section. Basketball players will wear the shirts for warm-ups, as will the cheerleaders who will lead the crowd in Say Yes cheers.

A Say Yes flag will be featured when the university flags appear, and 15- and 30-second profiles on Say Yes scholars will be shown on the big screen during the game, Dutch said.

In addition to the event, Say Yes is also raising money by selling $10 T-shirts in the bookstore and at Saturday’s game. People can make $10 donations by texting ‘COLLEGE’ to 27722. Each donation will be matched dollar-for-dollar up to $1 million between the Central New York Community Foundation and Say Yes to Education Inc., which is based in New York City. There will also be special areas located around Syracuse where people can watch the game and donate money, Dutch said.

Money raised outside of the event will go toward the Say Yes programs and their scholarship fund. Any money raised inside the Dome will not go toward the scholarships due to compliance rules.

Say Yes will provide students who attended a Say Yes high school for their sophomore, junior and senior years the difference in tuition costs after they receive their financial aid package. There are currently 18 schools in the Syracuse City School District that have the after-school programs. All of the schools already offer the scholarship. 

Dutch said she hopes SU students get involved. The new quadrant will increase the number of positions for SU students by 25 percent, she said. Students are able to work as paid tutors in the high schools, volunteer in the after-school programs or can work as paid camp counselors in the summer camp.

‘A lot of people are looking at Syracuse and saying ‘Wow,” she said. ‘It’s a national program, and we’re setting the stage.’

Last semester there were 110 SU students who spent eight to 10 hours a week tutoring at Say Yes schools for Literacy Corps, 30 more than in spring 2010, said Colleen McAllister, the Say Yes Winnick Fellows Program coordinator who also assigns students to the schools.

The Say Yes Winnick Fellows Program is part of the Mary Ann Shaw Center for Public and Community Service. Although the center is not affiliated with Say Yes to Education, it supports the program. In spring 2009, Literacy Corps did a pilot program with Say Yes and officially began working with Say Yes that summer.

Evan Wichman, a junior music education major and a past counselor for Say Yes, said he is excited for the program’s expansion.

‘I definitely think it’s a good thing for the program to do,’ he said. ‘It’s nice to see it’s growing and has the ability to do so.’

krkoerti@syr.edu

Published on January 19, 2011 at 12:00 pm